2025 Triumph Hurdle

[ComplyOrDie]

Mark Howard Christmas update said:

The Grade 2 Finesse Juvenile Hurdle at Cheltenham (25th January) is expected to remain his next target before returning in March for either the Triumph or Boodles Juvenile Hurdle.

Blamed testing ground for the performance LTO.

Strange, considering he bolted up on the bridle on Heavy previously.

Will be Boodles now, IMO.

[Atlantic Viking]

No Charlus either.

[Lobos]

Yeah that makes sense.
Being very careful with this one, whilst being busier with their other juveniles
He did look quite forward in his first run to
me.
Bit more experience and then cherry ripe to take on the reincarnation of Pegasus!!

Declared Lavender against Lulamba on Saturday so they'll have some idea of the form.

[ComplyOrDie]

Declared Lavender against Lulamba on Saturday so they'll have some idea of the form.

The way Lavender has jumped he should be beaten out of sight by both Sauvignon & Lulamba. Odds suggest as much too.

Sauvignon I quite like, Kempton should suit him, so if Lulamba puts him away well then I'd imagine he's a fair animal.

[That Horse]

Strange, considering he bolted up on the bridle on Heavy previously.

Will be Boodles now, IMO.

Is that him qualified now after the 3rd run?

[Lobos]

The way Lavender has jumped he should be beaten out of sight by both Sauvignon & Lulamba. Odds suggest as much too.

Sauvignon I quite like, Kempton should suit him, so if Lulamba puts him away well then I'd imagine he's a fair animal.

Yeah, agree re Lavender but that's exactly why he's in there if you get me. Good way of testing the rest of the best of the English.

[Quevega]

I reckon he's being as dodgy as it gets with Lavender.

[Lobos]

I reckon he's being as dodgy as it gets with Lavender.

Boodles all day long eh ??

[Quevega]

Boodles all day long eh ??

He might be a bit low in the ratings to be fair, might need to get near the front 2 at Kempton.
If he gets around the 120 mark for a 96 rated flat horse then he's done a cracking job.

[jrjr]

I reckon he's being as dodgy as it gets with Lavender.

You may be right but, if that was the case, why would James Owen pump his tyres so much ahead of the debut run? Surely better to try and be more low key.

[Runragged]

I think Owen said he had one that could potentially be better than East India Dock, because Lavender Hill Mob was higher rated on the flat. Everyone took that a bit too literally and assumed he would hurdle just as well as East India Dock, which we have clearly seen he doesn't.

[Quevega]

You may be right but, if that was the case, why would James Owen pump his tyres so much ahead of the debut run? Surely better to try and be more low key.

Not sure, it’s a good point.
But also it doesn’t really matter what’s been said really.
I think both rides are questionable so far.
I doubt he’d run two in the triumph also so keeping one hidden makes sense.

[jrjr]

Not sure, it’s a good point.
But also it doesn’t really matter what’s been said really.
I think both rides are questionable so far.
I doubt he’d run two in the triumph also so keeping one hidden makes sense.

Cool, I’d agree the rides are on the dodgy side, was just interested in your rationale behind it. The only thing I could think of was (and I’m not 100% that the timing is correct) the comments were made in the heat of the moment after East India had bolted up at Cheltenham. Possibly got home, realised he now had the Triumph favourite, and decided on a different route for Lavender.

Who knows, I guess we’ll find out when the Boodles rolls around!

[EnvoiAlien]

I reckon he's being as dodgy as it gets with Lavender.

Glad someone gets it,James is many things but he isn't stupid,when he said he had a good one he wasn't wrong,just taking an alternative path with this one of Gredleys.

[Lobos]

Like Sir Gino, Lulamba is set to make his first start for his new connections having won on his only outing at Auteuil and is cramped odds for the juvenile hurdle which opens the weekend card.
Speaking on Nick Luck’s Daily Podcast, Henderson said: "It’s hard to tell, he’s had one run in France and he did win. It’s hard to tell the form, they were nearly all debutants.

"He did that nicely, but you’ve no idea what it was and what was in there. He’s just a fine, big horse. If he was in England, I suspect he’d probably still be in the field, but they tend to get on with them in France.

"He’s a very nice, very straightforward, scopey animal.

"Sir Gino was always very freaky, he was very speedy from the word go. They’re pretty different."

Lulamba’s rivals include another exciting French import in the form of the Paul Nicholls-trained Sauvignon, and James Owen’s high-class Flat performer Lavender Hill Mob, who is bidding to make it third time lucky over obstacles.

"I think this looks a very competitive contest to be honest with you. I think if you look at Paul’s horse, he’s got some very grown-up Auteuil form because he has actually won a Listed race, which would be very superior to what Lulamba ran in," Henderson added.

"I like Kempton because invariably you’ll get better ground. Sandown is 10 miles down the road, but you can be pretty sure most of the winter it’s going to be very soft.

"At Kempton you’ve got a reasonably good chance of getting some reasonably decent ground, although not on this occasion I’m sure. It was lovely ground there the other day when everywhere else was very wet."